You didn't say if you tried serging after the sa's were sewn but if you did it's very hard to smoothly manipulate the fabric through the serger after the seams are sewn. You're trying to feed a narrow strip through the needles (with the rest of the garment bulk pulling on it) and it's darn near impossible to get good results. Instead you get results like you had plus it's just asking for trouble with the knife!

Compare how nicely the sample (with no sewn seam) looks like to the one with the seam sewn. The sample didn't have all the extra "baggage" added.

I am a serging fool. I have no fear about it. I have done seam finishes both before and after sewing the seam.

To me it looks as though there was a problem either in front of or behind the serger while serging which caused the stitches to start bunching up. Either something on the garment hooked onto something in front of the serger which slowed the fabric feeding through the serger. Or possibly the fabric was pilling up behind the serger preventing it from moving forward freely. That slowing of the feeding of the fabric would cause bunching of the stitches.

Just rip out the bunched up stitches and start again on top of the previous stitches that still look good. You will have to bury your thread tails (the ones from where you started again) under the stitches behind the seam allowance. It will be fine and no one will be the wiser.

While serging make sure the fabric in front of and behind the presser foot stays straight. If the fabric angles left either in front of or in back of the presser foot it will make your stitches not be fully on the fabric.

I hope this is understandable.

I really like the red thread with the denim! Very cute idea!

-- Edited on 6/10/13 11:36 PM --

------Thank you Lord for my mother who taught me the joy of sewing, for my father and husband who encouraged my sewing, for the talent You gave me to sew, and for all the special people in my life to sew for.

I'm not gonna lie. I am afraid to try it again because it will kill me if demon serger acts up and I ruin more seam allowances. I feel like I need to go back to the Hong Kong finish while I still have plenty of seam allowance to work with. Especially on my second try, where it started bunching up immediately, I am sure that there was nothing impeding the progress of the garment. If a serger doesn't work reliably even on denim, of what use can it possibly be? -- Edited on 6/10/13 11:53 PM --

------Paula

"In Seattle you haven't had enough coffee until you can thread a sewing machine while it's running."
- Jeff Bezos, Amazon.com founder

As long as you're in the middle of this garment's construction, finish the seams however is most comfortable to you and your abilities.

But do not put your serger away. Practice with it. I wanted a serger for so many years before I bought my first one about 3 years ago. I think because I wanted it so bad is why I just plowed ahead with it. I had a bag of clothes which I was going to donate to Goodwill. Instead I serged them to sheds. I practiced every stitch, drew curvy lines to follow, practiced inside corners and outside corners......long story short, I fell in love with it in a matter of days. Just like you know how your SM behaves is what you want to know about your serger. I also bought several serger books because the serger manual only tells you how to set it up. The manual does not show you all the creativity that is possible with a serger. So have fun with yours. Really, they are so fun!

------Thank you Lord for my mother who taught me the joy of sewing, for my father and husband who encouraged my sewing, for the talent You gave me to sew, and for all the special people in my life to sew for.

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Sergers, Coverstitch and Blindhemmers >> I need your thoughts on what might have gone wrong here